The USGBC’s Center for Green Schools, Lucid, the Alliance to Save Energy, and the National Wildlife Federation have launched Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) 2012, a national electricity and water use reduction competition for colleges and universities. Students at participating universities will compete from Feb. 6 to April 23, 2012 to achieve the greatest reductions in their residence-hall energy and water use. Participants can choose to competed against buildings on their own campuses or against a group of peer institutions. Overall, the competition aim to save one gigawatt hour total.
A similar CCN was held in a 2010 pilot program, where 40 colleges and universities reduced their electricity consumption by 508,000 kilowatt hours total. The 2010 pilot also saved $50,200 from campus costs and averted 816,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to the USGBC.
Schools have until Nov. 1 to sign up for the competition. Currently more than 100 schools are registered to participate. For more information on the competition, visit competetoreduce.org.